Great Scot: Paul Lawrie shot a second round 69 in testing cconditions in the Nedbank Golf Challenge

Behind him is Peter Hanson (one over), before a real gap to the rest, with Carl Pettersson three over, Nicolas Colsaerts and Garth Mulroy four over and finally, Justin Rose, a further four shots back.

It was a horror day for the Englishman, a seven-over 79 not amongst his finest rounds, but Lawrie will at least sleep easy tonight after his 69.

Nedbank Challenge

Round one – Colsaerts puts Ryder Cup pals in the shade to lead

He could have signed for an even better score too, with a bogey on the 15th-hole par four stopping him from registering the outright best round of the day.

Kaymer also carded a 69 consisting of five birdies and two bogeys, while Westwood, looking for a third successive win at the event, was left to rue a bogey and a double-bogey six at the par-four 16th as he ended one over for the day.

He had little on compatriot Rose, though, whose score was heavily undermined by a triple bogey on the par-four third. Lawrie's controlled round was all the more impressive considering the wind which ripped around the course.

In chase: Lee Westwood (above) and Martin Kaymer (below) in action at the Gary Player Country Club

Save for a couple of close shaves with the putter, he could have done even better.

'I played nicely, I struggled a bit with the driver so I hit a lot of three-woods off the tees. I hit my three-wood pretty far, but I also hit a lot of good shots with my irons. The greens are a little slower and I left a few putts out there,' he said.

'The wind was swirling, and it was quite difficult. It was chopping and changing – a little bit like Augusta. It is difficult to get the distance right this week, but so far we only got a couple wrong so we've done okay.'

In such a compact field, though, he knows he has little time to relax.

'The leaderboard is pretty damn packed, and pretty close together,' he added. 'There is still a lot of golf to play and a lot of time for guys to come back who struggled in the first two days. So far, so good for me, but there is still a long way to go.'

Triple-world champion Vettel vows to stay at Red Bull until at least end of 2014 season

|

UPDATED:

15:47 GMT, 26 November 2012

Sebastian Vettel can see no end in sight to the fairytale he is currently enjoying with Red Bull.

After becoming the youngest driver in Formula One history to clinch not just three titles, but to do so in succession, Vettel has reassured his team he has no intention of jumping ship.

The 25-year-old German has a contract with the Milton Keynes-based marque through to the end of 2014, which he has again insisted he will honour.

Game on: Vettel celebrates his third world title with Red Bull

That was a reference to the fact that Vettel was linked with Ferrari for 2014 at various stages throughout the campaign, a situation that could be viewed as an attempt at destabilisation.

After finishing sixth in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix to win the title by three points as Fernando Alonso could only finish second behind Jenson Button, Vettel mentioned 'a lot of people tried to play dirty tricks', but refused to expand. The question now is with three championships to his name, what could motivate him to remain with Red Bull

'The next challenge First of all I want to enjoy now,' Vettel said. 'I've tried to explain the whole time the most important thing is to be in the present. I don't want to get carried away with next year.

Centre of attention: The Red Bull driver is the youngest triple world champion in F1 history

'I'm very happy now and I want to have a good time with the guys, and then surely at some stage you try to recharge the batteries.

'It's been a tough, long season and I want to come back in shape next year. 'But I'm with the team. I have a contract until the end of 2014 and I'm very happy with what we have achieved so far, and I don't think this story is over yet.

'So I'm very happy and extremely committed to give everything I have in the next (two) years when I'm with them.

Facing the wrong way: Vettel finished sixth after spinning on the opening lap in Brazil

'At the moment I don't see any point thinking about another team or something else. I'm extremely happy in the position I am in because it's incredible what we have achieved.'

Vettel also refused to suggest he could one day eclipse Michael Schumacher's records of seven titles, 91 race wins and 68 poles.

Although firmly on his way with three championships, 26 victories and 36 poles, Vettel said: 'I'm not commenting on that because it's nonsense.

'Whatever he has achieved in his career is unbelievable. People tend to forget he was dominant like no other driver ever in Formula One during his time.'

Meanwhile Alonso has called on Ferrari to get their heads down over the winter and find him the speed he needs to end his agonising wait for his own third Formula One world title.

'For the future we need to improve the car,' said Alonso. 'We have the best team in terms of approaching and preparing for the races, we've had zero mechanical problems this season, and we've had good pitstops, good starts, good strategy, but we were too slow.

'We were behind the Red Bulls, the McLarens, and in the last couple of grands prix, behind Williams and Force India. We were clearly slower than them in pace.

'So this is something we must improve next year because we cannot fight for a world championship if we are too slow. We can be a little slower, but not that much.'

Let's play! Time for TV war to take a back seat as the Heineken Cup returns

PUBLISHED:

21:34 GMT, 11 October 2012

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UPDATED:

21:37 GMT, 11 October 2012

Against a backdrop of division and doubts about its existence, the Heineken Cup returns, not a moment too soon.

For now, the European TV rights war which has erupted this season can be put to one side. Let the men in suits step back in to the shadows. Let the players and their clubs emerge into the light.

On Monday, ERC stakeholders met in Rome in an attempt to find a resolution to the power struggle stemming from attempts by English and French clubs to overhaul the accord governing participation in the tournament, and the shock English tactic of getting into bed with BT Vision.

There were no puffs of white smoke after the latest meeting, which was no surprise as this is a tangled mess.

Welcome return: Leinster celebrate winning the Heineken Cup last May

The quest to establish common ground will drag on for months, so at this juncture it is simply appropriate to state that anything which threatens this event is bad news.

The Heineken Cup is adored by spectators, relished by players and coaches and envied by the southern hemisphere.

A major aspect of its appeal is the sheer variety it delivers, on and off the field, but the Anglo-French gripe about qualification is justified. The argument that this should be a merit-based showcase of the continent’s best teams is enticing, yet the multi-national element must be protected.

Once again, the English challenge will be hamstrung by circumstance. Aviva Premiership clubs have to deal with the triple-whammy inconvenience of a salary cap, a fight for qualification places and the spectre of relegation in their league.

Europe cannot be the over-riding priority, as it is in Ireland, where central contracts and union control of leading players has been a recipe for success.

Jonny be good Toulon will take on the Cardiff Blues

France have relegation and qualification to contend with, but their clubs are awash with money and talent.

The Welsh regions do not have the same issue of league position to contend with, but they now have a salary cap, falling attendance and a growing player exodus.

For them, as for the English, the only way to compete is with an emphasis on quality coaching, production of homegrown talent and development of first-rate support structures.

It is not a level playing field, so they have to be smarter and more efficient than their French and Irish rivals. Enough of the hardships. The start of the campaign is a time to celebrate what lies ahead.

Much of the rugby in the key pool games and throughout the knock-out phases is of Test intensity.

Ulster play Castres at Ravenhill. The Irish province will aim to deliver another tribute to the memory of young centre Nevin Spence, who died in an accident on the family farm last month, by extending their unbeaten start to the season.

On Sunday, a clash of the titans sees Toulouse host Leicester. The beat of the drums and the giant flags are the mark of such an occasion in France, from Perpignan to Biarritz to Clermont. Next weekend, the Cardiff Blues confront Jonny Wilkinson and the rest of Toulon’s galacticos at the old Arms Park. On the same day, Leicester and the Ospreys renew a fierce rivalry.

What would really galvanise the Heineken Cup would be a Welsh triumph to show that the regional model can prosper. Another feat for the greater good would be an Italian side reaching the knock-out stages, although that is unlikely.

But the health of the event can be measured in how competitive this pool phase has become.

Unlike its football counterparts, there are very few predictable outcomes. The ‘shocks’ are less shocking with every passing year, as the power-base expands.

European rugby has a formula which works. So a message to the suits — enjoy the show, then find a compromise. Do not destroy this.

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McCaw caught offside

What a shame that, days after Richie McCaw became the world’s first player to participate in 100 Test victories, the release of his autobiography should resurrect the Kiwi obsession with lambasting Wayne Barnes.

The All Black captain reflects on his side’s 2007 World Cup quarter-final defeat to France by castigating the IRB for putting the English referee in charge. ‘I don’t blame Barnes, I blame the people who appointed the most inexperienced referee,’ says McCaw, in The Open Side.

‘On the big stage, an inexperienced referee is likely to become so afraid of making a mistake that he stops making decisions. /10/11/article-0-1568CBF1000005DC-972_634x424.jpg” width=”634″ height=”424″ alt=”Missing the cut: Welford Road” class=”blkBorder” />

Missing the cut: Welford Road

The last word

When England Rugby 2015 released their ‘long list’ of possible World Cup venues this week — which did not contain Welford Road, home of the country’s biggest club, Leicester, the backlash was staggering.

Officially, the problem is that the pitch is deemed too small. In reality it is about money.

The IRB awarded the 2011 World Cup to New Zealand, knowing it would make a loss, which it did. So England are charged with balancing the books, hence the acceptance of an 80million ‘guarantee’ to the world governing body.

Asked recently if ER2015 expected to cover the guarantee, chairman Andy Cosslett said: ‘I think we can do better than that.’

Well, that requires selling 2.9million tickets, potentially in such hot-beds of the elite game as Sunderland, Derby and Southampton.

While that hard sell goes on, Welford Road will continue to stage big games and draw big crowds, but when the festival comes it will be excluded. It’s a travesty.

Euro memories

Conor O’Shea (Director of rugby at Harlequins, ex-Ireland full-back)

Munster’s first European Cup success in 2006, beating Biarritz 23-19 in the Millennium Stadium

‘I’m a Limerick-born lad and that first Cup success was very special after so many disappointments and near misses. It was the end of a journey and I became very partisan in watching Munster finally get to that ‘Holy Grail’ of winning a European Cup final.’

Steve Borthwick (Saracens lock and ex-England captain)

Going to Bath’s semi-final against Pau in 1998 as a schoolboy player

‘I was only 17 or 18 and had been invited to see the set up and sample the atmosphere on a big-match day. Bath won, beating Pau, 20-14, and the decision was almost made. There’s just nothing to beat the atmosphere in the city on a big-match day in such a beautiful setting.’

Chris Robshaw (captain of Harlequins & England)

Nick Evans kicking the winning drop goal against Stade Francais in a pool game at the Stoop, Dec 2008

‘It was in the wet and mud of the Stoop and it was one of our first big wins in Europe. To get to the drop goal for Nick we went through some 29 phases in an effort to get a bit closer all the time. Somehow Nick managed to keep his cool and to slot it over.’

Simon Easterby (head coach at Llanelli Scarlets, ex-Ireland back row)

Losing 13-12 to Leicester in 2003 semi-final at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground

‘I’m a Nottingham Forest fan so it was a great buzz playing at the City Ground, but it did not bring us any luck and came in a period when the Scarlets had a number of really close defeats. Leicester nicked it right at the end thanks to Tim Stimpson’s penalty from over halfway which hit the upright and crossbar before going over.’

‘Sale had their title-winning team out including players like Sebastian Chabal and Charlie Hodgson. I came off the bench towards the end and was immediately dumped on my backside by Chabal. But I got my own back by winning a line-out and then helping to put Shane over in the corner for one of his special tries.’

Gregor Townsend (Glasgow head coach and ex-Scotland fly half)

Playing for Castres in France when they had to play Munster three times in one season

‘The last match was in the semi-final in Beziers where we just lost, 25-17, but by then a great rivalry had built up between the teams and the games became very special. For Scotsman playing for a French team against Munster left a great impression. Pity we lost.’

Michael Bradley (Edinburgh head coach and ex-Ireland scrum-half)

Edinburgh’s run to the semi-final last season – the best by a Scottish team

‘It must be the win over Racing Metro in last season’s pool games. Greig Laidlaw kicked the winning conversion in a match where we came back to win 48-47 after losing by 24 points. As an Irishman it must be Leinster’s stunning win over Northampton in the 2011 final.’

Alastair Kellock (Glasgow captain and Scotland lock)

Glasgow’s trip to Toulouse in 2011where the game was delayed for five days due to the weather

‘The circumstances surrounding the delay brought the whole squad together and helped us finish the season very strongly. We had arrived without our kit because of flight delays and then refused to play in Toulouse’s away kit. That upset them and made for a very hostile atmosphere once the match was played.’

Japanese thoroughbred Orfevre will have to overcome a bad draw to beat rival Camelot in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe on Sunday.

Orfevre, the Japanese Triple Crown winner, has been in good form after winning last month's Prix Foy on the same turf at Longchamp. But Orfevre has been drawn in the 18th stall.

The last horse to win from a double-figure draw was Dalakhani in 2003, which is good news for Camelot and three-time Arc winner Frankie Dettori after they were drawn in the fifth stall.

Looking good: Orfevre (left) getting ready for the Arc

Orfevre and Camelot are the favorites after defending champion and course record-holder Danedream was withdrawn earlier this week when her stables in Germany were placed into quarantine due to an outbreak of an equine infection.

Last year, Danedream covered the 2400m Longchamp track in 2 minutes, 24.49 seconds to break the record set by Peintre Celebre in 1997.

After Danedream withdrew, Camelot was entered Wednesday for Europe's most prestigious flat race to make up for recent withdrawals of some high-profile rivals. British contenders Nathaniel and last year's third-place finisher Snow Fairy were also withdrawn.

Camelot will look to make amends for his failure to complete a rare English Triple Crown three weeks ago. The 3-year-old colt was beaten at the post by Encke in the St. Leger, having already won the 2,000 Guineas and the English Derby in 2012.

The 41-year-old Dettori, who will be
racing in his 25th straight Arc, received the ride after Camelot's usual
jockey, Joseph O'Brien, was unable to get down to the required weight
to race his father Aidan O'Brien's horse. Dettori
feels confident of winning a fourth Arc, particularly considering
Camelot's favorable draw. The Italian jockey won on Lammtarra (1995),
Sakhee (2001) and Marienbard (2002).

'He looks to be tremendously well alanced. He came into his own in the Derby when he ran over a mile and a half,' he told Racing UK. 'He spread-eagled the field and was mighty impressive… The Arc will be his absolute cup of tea.'

Although he did not get a chance to ride Camelot, Joseph nevertheless has a chance to show what he can do on St Nicholas Abbey from stall 10.

Highly favoured: Camelot in action at the Curragh earlier this year

'He's been running well all season and I don't see why he won't again,' Joseph said. 'He ran well in it last year, and it's a big thrill to be riding him in a race like the Arc.'

Alain de Royer-Dupre, who trained Dalakhani and the unbeaten French thoroughbred Zarkava – Arc winner in 2008 – has a good chance of going one better with Shareta, the runner-up to Danedream last year.

Shareta, who will be ridden by veteran jockey Christophe Lemaire, comes into the race in superb form having won the Yorkshire Oaks and the Prix Vermeille on her past two starts.

'This year we decided to have two races before the big race,' De Royer-Dupre said. 'Shareta is a strong filly and she can accept everything. It is very interesting to have a filly like that in a big race.'

Camelot failed in his bid to become the first Triple Crown winner since Nijinsky in 1970 as Encke claimed the Ladbrokes St Leger at Doncaster.

Camelot, trained by Aidan O'Brien and ridden by Joseph O'Brien, raced towards the rear through the early stages but made smooth progress at the half-mile pole.

All seemed to be going well as he was eased out to make his challenge two furlongs from home but Mickael Barzalona appeared to steal a slight march on Mahmood Al Zarooni's 25-1 chance Encke, who went clear.

Denied: Camelot, ridden by Joseph O'Brien, failed to win the St Leger

Camelot (2-5 favourite) gave chase but never looked like he would quite get there, finishing three-quarters of a length in arrears.

Aidan O'Brien admits Camelot will be taken out of his comfort zone when he tries to become the first Triple Crown winner for 42 years in the Ladbrokes St Leger on Saturday.

The sponsors make the colt, who has won the 2,000 Guineas over a mile and Derby over a mile a half, a 1-3 chance to follow in the footsteps of Nijinsky, whose 1970 exploits are celebrated in a statue at O’Brien’s Ballydoyle stable in Co Tipperary.

Ten potential rivals have been left in the Doncaster race which O’Brien is trying to win for a fourth time.

Stable star: Aidan O'Brien (left) and his son Joseph with Camelot

They include three – Dartford, Michelangelo and Great Voltigeur winner Thought Worthy – for John Gosden, who has won the last two runnings of Britain’s oldest Classic, plus David Lanigan’s Main Sequence, who was second to Camelot in the Derby.

The one mile six furlongs and 132 yards of the Leger will be a new challenge for Camelot, who is ridden by O’Brien’s 19-year-old son Joseph.

O’Brien, who will become the first trainer to win all five British Classics in a season if Camelot delivers, said: ‘He is built more like a miler – he is round and strong, not lean and angular. That is a little thing that would be in your mind.

‘Everyone has to do what suits their horse. They will obviously try to expose his weaknesses but we do not know what they are.

‘I heard Lester (Piggott) saying the Leger was nearly two miles. You are asking a Guineas winner to run that far. You are going to pull him way beyond his comfort zone.

Raring to go: Camelot is taken through his paces ahead of the St Leger

‘They nearly have to be Gold Cup horses to get that trip. When you go beyond that mile and a half, real stamina starts to kick in. They have to have that extra capacity.

‘Those extreme distances, if you are not up to it, can break the heart.

‘I was talking to Lester at The Curragh and he said Alleged got beat in the (1977) Leger but won two Arcs. It tells you how much of test it can be but Camelot is a brave horse and usually comes home.’

O’Brien has also declared two others for the race – Chamonix and Imperial Monarch – but is expected to only run Camelot.

Ursa Major, the 33-1 shot trained by Tommy Carmody, has a choice of running at Doncaster or in the Irish St Leger run at The Curragh on the same day.

Glory days: Camelot won the Derby at Epsom earlier this summer

Sir Henry Cecil has confirmed his Royal Ascot winner Thomas Chippendale while William Haggas-trained Guarantee, the winner of the Melrose Stakes at York, represents a Highclere syndicate which includes Michael Howard, the former Conservative Home Secretary.

They face a horse O’Brien describes as like no other he has trained that is trying to carve his name in history.

Sue Magnier, wife of the Coolmore Stud supremo John Magnier who co-owns Camelot, had had the name reserved for 10 years before a horse regarded as good enough to carry its name came along.

O’Brien added: ‘It’s a mystical name and everything about this horse has not been normal.’

Chinese triple jumper Li Duan won the crowd's hearts if not the gold medal with his antics at the Olympic Stadium on Thursday.

The 34-year-old, competing in the F11 classes for athletes who are effectively completely blind, lined up on the runaway still wearing his training trousers before whipping them off just before he started his run-up.

It brought cheers of delight every time from the crowd, who then had to quickly fall silent, with the event demanding quiet to enable the athletes to hear the instructions of their guides.

Antics: Li Duan gets ready to jump, but not before he rips off his trousers (below)

There was a silver lining for Li, who finished second behind champion Denis Gulin of Russia.

Li's longest jump was 12.75m, while Gulin launched himself out to 12.91m, while Ukraine's Ruslan Katyshev, the long jump champion, took bronze.

There was more Chinese medal success as Mi Na won her second gold of the Games by leading a one-two in the F37 discus.

Ben Ainslie has outlined his plans to become the first sailor to win his sport's Triple Crown.

The four-time Olympic champion will
fly out to San Francisco on Friday to launch an assault on the America's
Cup, using the event as a tune-up for his fledgling Ben Ainslie Racing
team ahead of their own Cup challenge in 2015.

It was Charles van Commenee who brought the issue up. Credibility, he said, was the crux of it.

'If I hold athletes and coaches accountable every day, how could I work over the next four years if I am not accountable myself' he asked.

The head coach of UK Athletics set his target at eight medals in this Olympics, including one gold. Fail and he would quit.

Winner: Van Commenee is a man who
gets results despite the GB athletics team falling short of their overall target

'If I don't hit my target and I stay in a job, that sends the wrong message to everybody,' he added. And he's short. Not by a vast amount, but enough.

Take Mo Farah and Great Britain's golden hour away and a lot of the track and field events have been a bust.

Batons dropped, inferior times, gambles that failed to pay off. Van Commenee picked Lynsey Sharp for the 800 metres ahead of four rivals with superior performances, and she tearfully failed to qualify.

The rift with Phillips Idowu was a public embarrassment. There really is nothing else for him to do but – stay. Of course, stay.

Flop: Idowu crashed out of the triple jump after a nightmare display in the first round

Don't be silly. Are you mad Four gold medals Four gold medals and we lose the coach What are we, the Football Association We need a little perspective here. In one hour alone at the Olympic Stadium, Van Commenee did four years' work. That was before Farah became this country's greatest Olympic runner.

Charlie is a controversial character, true. He ticks people off. He makes enemies, no doubt of it. But he also gets results. Not as many as he would have liked, but in the part of the medal table that matters. Only the United States and Russia have won more gold medals than Great Britain in track and field at these Games.

The last time Britain had three different gold medallists was in 1984 when Sebastian Coe, Daley Thompson and Tessa Sanderson triumphed at a Games that did not include Russia or the Iron Curtain countries.

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Martin Samuel: Spare us… Pietersen and Idowu should take a running jump
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Given that the United States boycotted Moscow in 1980 – when Britain won four golds – this is surely Britain's best performance in athletics since Lynn Davies, Ken Matthews, Ann Packer and Mary Rand were on top of the podium in Tokyo in 1964.

In Olympic terms, David Coleman coined it when calling the 400m hurdles in Mexico City in 1968. 'Hemery wins for Britain,' he said, 'it's Hennige in second place and who cares who's third, it doesn't matter.'

Turns out quite a few people did as the bronze medallist was British, too. Coleman was forced to eat humble pie on the subject for years. Yet his instincts were right; because while you will probably have heard of Olympic gold medallist and former world record-holder David Hemery, the name John Sherwood won't ring too many bells.

Hemery was Sports Personality of the Year, the first president of UK Athletics and a Commander of the British Empire. Sherwood taught PE for 37 years at Firth Park Community Arts College in Sheffield.

Once your team have got gold, the other podium finishes are all but irrelevant. Kelly Holmes took an Olympic bronze medal in Sydney in 2000 but don't anticipate seeing it on screen any time soon.

There is more chance of a lost Pete and Dud sketch turning up in the BBC archives than an outing for Dame Kelly's third place, erased from memory after her double gold in Athens.

So Van Commenee may not have delivered precisely on his original promise, but he exceeded all expectations in the area that truly matters. If he had won nine medals, eight bronze and one gold, he would have beaten his target but it would not have felt like success. If he had won 10 but no golds at all, there would be no clamour for him to remain.

Yet four and the greatest night in British Olympic history Van Commenee must stay for the same reason that Roberto Di Matteo deserves to be manager of Chelsea this season. Di Matteo won the Champions League; so, in his own way, did Van Commenee.

At the double: Farah lit up the Olympic Stadium on two occasions winning gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m

The Dutchman continues insisting that he is done now. He spoke to his employers at UK Athletics on Saturday and, despite Farah-related euphoria, reiterated his belief that six medals was not enough. Challenged, he says he will go on holiday and think about it; except nobody will be waving him goodbye and good riddance at Heathrow Airport as he once predicted.

If he goes, Van Commenee will leave the crowd wanting more. He gets results, even if his standards are higher. Is he always as smart as he thinks he is No. But we knew that anyway.

There is more than a bit of Fabio Capello in Van Commenee. Yet just as the World Cup in 2010 was a sobering experience for Capello, who discovered his regimented approach did not translate successfully to a foreign tournament, so Van Commenee's greatest worth now is as a man with the clearest idea of how to prepare for Rio in 2016.

Capello learned from the disappointment of South Africa and changed. The same could be said of Van Commenee in 2016.

Double vision: Capello and Van Commenee share a number of similar traits

He WILL know where he went wrong. This was his first Olympics as a team-specific athletics coach – he had previously worked with individuals and his position at Beijing in 2008 was technical director to the Dutch Olympic Committee, not just the track-and-field operation – and there must be lessons in his handling of Idowu, or his unnecessarily confrontational stance over Tiffany Porter.

No nation that fumbles the relay baton as much as Britain can be said to function effectively in team disciplines, either. These are the areas in which it is to be hoped Van Commenee revises his thinking: if he can be persuaded to stay.

His main character trait is stubbornness. Capello had that, too. And some are convinced that, like Capello, Van Commenee is searching for a way out, and sticking to his eight-medal target is a way of engineering that departure.

In which case, it is time for Niels de Vos, chief executive of UK Athletics, to do his job. There will be plenty of other countries looking at Super Saturday with envy, plenty who will be viewing the medal table and thinking their own team needs the sort of shake-up Van Commenee could provide. Not least the next Olympic hosts, Brazil.

There is no point in focusing on legacy if we do not give the best coaches the chance to build on what has been achieved at London 2012.

The biggest challenge for Van Commenee, meanwhile, is still here: to maintain the impact of the last nine days, swallow his pride and carry on. It would be quite the achievement; on both fronts.

My final word on the Plastic Brits (for now)

They are expecting a roadblock around Basildon Athletics Club on Monday night. The buzz from the Olympics is such that chairman Eamonn Martin will be manning the gate for club night to ensure that new members enrol in an orderly fashion.

A generation has been inspired, as promised, and what will we tell them Commit to your sport, work hard and with luck we won't replace you with your Ukrainian training partners.

Stay fit, stay dedicated and you could be in the Olympics, always providing there is not an American who can't get into her own team but is faster than you and personally ambitious.

The debate around national qualification in sport will fade from sight now, without a home Games putting it on the agenda, but do not imagine it no longer matters.

Half the people who pontificated on the issues around Plastic Brits – I should invoice – did not understand the parameters anyway. It was always about sport, never about society.

I read Yasmin Alibhai-Brown in The Independent dim-wittedly linking it to attacks on multiculturalism and immigration. I read one piece that spoke of the temerity of those who dared to question Yamile Aldama's multiple changes of nationality, Cuba to Sudan and now Great Britain.

I still don't find it excessively bold – the dictionary definition of temerity – to believe that only one switch of allegiance, in special circumstances, should be the maximum permitted, and anything more devalues international competition.

No final: Porter crashed out in the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles

I think the fact that Tiffany Porter did not even make the 100 metres hurdles final and three American women finished in the top four of it, suggests suspicions of her motives for abandoning the United States for Great Britain were justified, and not an attack on multiculturalism or immigration.

Mo Farah represents the best of modern Britain and his story could not be further removed from the opportunism that is becoming increasingly prevalent in modern international sport. Not to mention colonialism.

Leap of faith: Shara Proctor

I still do not think it is fair that Shara Proctor has to compete for Great Britain, because Anguilla, her country of origin, is not recognised by the International Olympic Committee. South Sudan is not a member either, but its marathon man Guor Marial ran beneath an IOC banner yesterday. Why is Proctor different And why aren't the Princess Royal, Lord Coe and all our other heavyweights on the Olympic stage not lobbying ferociously for Anguilla and other British overseas territories to be given their due Grenada declared a national holiday on the occasion of their first gold medallist, 400m runner Kirani James, last week. If Proctor had been the best long jumper at these Games, Anguilla would have been denied that nationally uplifting moment. Aren't the days of empire over

'I want to be the person who gets British people interested in wrestling,' said Olga Butkevych, from Zaporizhia in Ukraine, before losing in the first round, and ending Great Britain's only participation in her sport.

Yet some British people were already interested in wrestling. They were the ones relegated to the margins by the arrival of eastern European imports, in one of the most misguided policy decisions ever foisted on a sport.

Flooding the team with ringers was a clumsy way to short-cut to success and added funding. Yet going down that route has as good as destroyed wrestling in Britain.

If there is a legacy here, we must hope it is in a lesson learned. What we term Olympic sports are almost without exception defined by international competition.

We presume our rowers, cyclists or athletes have clubs, but we wouldn't know their names. We only really see them in national colours. So to pretend that nationality does not matter is the real nonsense. If anything has been proven in the last 17 days it is that a sense of it is crucial to Olympic sport.

The numbers arriving in Basildon tonight are not there because anybody can run for Britain, but because so few can, and to represent your country, therefore, is a noble ambition. Surrender that principle and forget legacy, or Olympic sport is dead.

Don't trash our footballers, they are already singled out for enough punishment

Hunter Davies wrote a very good book about football, 40 years ago. Davies was given unparalleled access to Tottenham Hotspur throughout the 1971-72 season. The details and observations in The Glory Game are the written equivalent of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.

Recently, not so much. And last week, when Olympic fervour was at its height, Davies penned the standard trashing of football and footballers compared with the heroes of London 2012.

Life story: Rooney's career on, and off the field, has been well documented

'I wonder if our top footballers will now feel so guilty that they will decide to donate nine-tenths of their income to charity' he asked. 'No chance, of course.'

Still, maybe Davies could get that pious ball rolling. He could donate nine-tenths of the fee he received for ghost-writing the literary achievement that is Wayne Rooney: My Story So Far.

For Davies, like a lot of folk, wants it all ways. He wants to cash in on Rooney's fame by accepting money to tell his life story aged 20 and then viciously deride the concept of the celebrity footballer – presumably for another fee – to the national press. And he thinks it's the footballers who are embarrassing.

Many of Britain's gold medal winners
have not sung the National Anthem. The only time it became an issue was
when the Welsh footballers stayed tight-lipped.

A great many of our Olympic athletes seem genuinely nice people but a great many footballers are, too. You don't hear so much about them. Philip Hindes, a Team GB cyclist, took a dive on his bike, admitted it, then changed his story and half of the newspapers ignored it because play-acting did not fit the narrative of the night, which was a fifth gold medal for Sir Chris Hoy. Imagine if that were football. Imagine if England had beaten Italy in the quarter-finals of the European Championship and then Andy Carroll said he dived to win the penalty. Ignore it We'd still be debating it two weeks later.

Footballers are different because football is different. Rooney cursed into a camera in an aggressive fashion and was, rightly, suspended. Seb Coe did it winning an Olympic gold medal and nobody remembers.

Brit comes sixth on an athletics track: brave. England look the sixth best team in a football tournament: failures.

Many of Britain's gold medal winners have not sung the National Anthem. The only time it became an issue was when the Welsh footballers stayed tight-lipped. There is a lot wrong with our national sport, there are standards that need to be improved, yet there is a difference between 50,000 cheering your name, even though you haven't made the podium, and 50,000 people calling your mum a slag because your shirt is the wrong colour.

Tom Daley received one tweet that echoed the type of abuse that footballers endure every time they play and the police arrested the person responsible. Repeat that at a football match and the stadium would be as good as empty by half-time.

Footballers are well paid, we know. But if there is no comparison between the rewards, there is also no comparison between the demands.

If an entire television network could be built on the back of competitive rowing, the best rowers would be household names earning 100,000 a week and we might see a different side of their natures, too.